How did Skal go from this just 2 months ago?
- Thread starter catrecruit
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Partly competition for sure. However, it is amazing how much confidence comes into play here IMO. Skal is overrated and over hyped to be sure. However, he is nowhere near as bad as he is playing now. You could see it in his face when Tyler challenged him against UCLA. He does not have that all out killer mentality that big men especially need to have in order to excel. Will he develop it? Hard to say. If he does not, then I am truly not sure how he will end up.
If he stays at UK next season with the recruits that are coming in, I do not see a role for him other than MAYBE spot minutes backing up one of the freshmen. Add to the fact that Lee may very well come back, and it is a tough situation for him unless he starts to get it real quickly. He has some real physical challenges to overcome as well. He is slow and uncoordinated. And he just does not play with his back to the basket well at all. He has no post moves to speak of.
Truth be told, it sucks for this team that he is so far behind. But, I really mostly hate it for the kid b/c he seems to really want to help his teammates, he just is not able to right now.
If he stays at UK next season with the recruits that are coming in, I do not see a role for him other than MAYBE spot minutes backing up one of the freshmen. Add to the fact that Lee may very well come back, and it is a tough situation for him unless he starts to get it real quickly. He has some real physical challenges to overcome as well. He is slow and uncoordinated. And he just does not play with his back to the basket well at all. He has no post moves to speak of.
Truth be told, it sucks for this team that he is so far behind. But, I really mostly hate it for the kid b/c he seems to really want to help his teammates, he just is not able to right now.
He played so confidently that game. He hasn't made that spin move he made in the first play the rest of the season. If he'd just play confidently and do what he can, he may not be a star but he'd at least be a solid contributor.
I think he can still get to serviceable contributor by March but still want Humphries out there too hoping both he and Skal are serviceable come tournament time.
Actually NJIT isn't a bad team . Hell they would beat Auburn 2-3 times out of 7 . So that don't fly. It was because he was confident.
It's called hard work....stay and work your butt off....he has never faced the talent that he faces every night....but he has tools that I can't teach
Really, given that our guard play can be so great - all we need from our bigs to be is solid. Skal has no confidence, something is up with Alex - Lee, bless him, is lost. Willis is playing as hard as he can, but....well, let's see if he can have more games like against Auburn. Not sure why Humphries and Wynyard aren't playing.
Guess we shall see what happens next game. I haven't given up hope, yet
So true! If the bigs just played mediocre it would be hard to stop this team. But they just don't do anything. When they're useless, it doesn't matter how good the guards play.
Good Lord! I'd forgotten he could look so aggressive and strong!
We need THIS version of Skal back!
We need THIS version of Skal back!
Confidence comes from litte successes. He needs to play hard every night and cal/Tyler need to go out of thier way to get him some easy buckets. I feel like the lob has just not been there this year. I thought it was mainly a byproduct of our poor perimeter shooting and the defenses sagging. However even during the games where we shoot okay from outside we don't seem to be able to mix in that drive and Lob play that we normally get.
No different then Poy. Comes in and dominates, as he should, in the first 1-2% of their college careers. They have a few missteps, they lose some confidence, the lack of confidence leads to even worse play. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
That's why his slightly better attitude and play over the last 2 weeks is a very promising sign. Was it just a bump in the road, and he'll get past it? Or will it be like Poy, where every bad game sends him into a spiral before he climbs out 10 games later?
That's why his slightly better attitude and play over the last 2 weeks is a very promising sign. Was it just a bump in the road, and he'll get past it? Or will it be like Poy, where every bad game sends him into a spiral before he climbs out 10 games later?
The biggest difference I see in the two is Skal has yet to have a big game against decent competition. Poy came out and had 4 consecutive 20 point games... one being against Duke where he looked like the next top 5 pick from UK. I do agree with your point though.
True. At their respective points in their career: Poy > Skal.
But Poythress did get to play off of soon-to-be-stud, Nerlens Noel. Skal started the season having a much bigger role and more eyes were on him to succeed.
But Poythress did get to play off of soon-to-be-stud, Nerlens Noel. Skal started the season having a much bigger role and more eyes were on him to succeed.
That is very true. I think we all expected Poythress to be a force inside, but Skal had a much higher level of expectation. When you are being compared to AD (and I believe some said he was further along than AD at that point in time) that is a lot to live up to.
Also, take into account that we just had KAT for a year... It isn't easy to be next on stage here.
Also, take into account that we just had KAT for a year... It isn't easy to be next on stage here.
At this point, I'd say the only answer for our lack of interior scoring is to take our lumps, play Skal more, and make a determined effort to get him the ball until he gets his mojo back.
I have watched a LOT of basketball over the years (but that does not make me an expert) but Skal got hurt in that he did not play against great competition in his last 2 years of HS. If you watch him he brings the ball down low when he rebounds and lacks strength to hold his position in the post. It would benefit him greatly coming back for another year under Cal's coaching. It is no doubt he has the skills but just does not how and when to use them correctly. Plus he looked good early but it was against weak competition.
That's because he CAN'T make that spin move against good defensive competition, NOT necessarily because he no longer has the confidence to do it.
Do you notice how low and exposed he brings the ball throughout this video? When he holds the ball like that against high quality defenders it quickly gets stripped out of his weak hands. NJIT let him get away with that stuff, but major conference opponents do not. And he's getting easy low block position and space inside here that he simply can't get against better stronger defenders.
This highlight tape does show that Skal has skills, but it's still primarily just the result of a weak defensive effort by a no talent NJIT team. The first time Skal faced real competition--against Duke a few days later--he got thoroughly embarrassed by Plumlee inside.
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I know so mush is easier said than done but how hard is it to grab the ball with two hands on a rebound, get low on defense and play like you have something to lose?
Agree with this but he plays/has played against strong competition everyday for 4 or 5 months at UK yet we don't seem to see him making up much ground in any area of development, that is hard to understand. Does he have the requisite skill necessary to benefit form exposure to competition.
When you look at this film it is amazing the difference you see.
Vs njit he was getting to he's spots where he is comfortable. Now teams have the size and strength to match push him from those spots. The game is hard for him right now. He's a freshmen that's still learning and getting better! It's just a slower process than wat BBN was expecting.
whats happening is that NJIT played 1 on 1 and every team since late November has swarmed him because we have too many guys that cant hit shots
Wow, I have been really down on Skal, but thank you for posting as I completely forgot. Yes, several posters have explained why we don't see the same success. However, what I also notice is that he is playing and shooting quickly. In other words early in the season he was going with instinct rather than thinking about the play, position, what he is supposed to do, etc. I would show him this tape and then show him a recent one. Now currently, he stands, hesitates, tried to dribble when surrounded, and appears to have no idea what to do.
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